Executive Briefings

What Are You Waiting For - Step Out There and See If Social Customer Relationship Management Works for You

By: CRM Buyer 11.19.2010

For all the talk of social CRM, there's not so much talk of social CRM successes. Oh, sure -- there are scattered success stories, but there's not a wave of SCRM home runs being hit out there. As a result, there's been talk of SCRM having "outlived its hype."

In talking to users, however, it's clear that the promise of SCRM is well known and fully appreciated. What's lacking is a lack of courage to take the first step.

The whole point of SCRM is to better understand your customers and to build more intimate relationships with them. That means that the most likely businesses to have approaches that appeal to your customers are your competitors. So, are you going to wait for your competitors to develop best practices before you get your SCRM activities in gear? Why not send them your leads so they can pre-qualify them for you while you're at it?

For all the talk of social CRM, there's not so much talk of social CRM successes. Oh, sure -- there are scattered success stories, but there's not a wave of SCRM home runs being hit out there. As a result, there's been talk of SCRM having "outlived its hype."

In talking to users, however, it's clear that the promise of SCRM is well known and fully appreciated. What's lacking is a lack of courage to take the first step.

The whole point of SCRM is to better understand your customers and to build more intimate relationships with them. That means that the most likely businesses to have approaches that appeal to your customers are your competitors. So, are you going to wait for your competitors to develop best practices before you get your SCRM activities in gear? Why not send them your leads so they can pre-qualify them for you while you're at it?